the graduate who didn't walk

I decided to spare myself and my relatives the dullness of an official graduation ceremony, and skipped walking. I had a small twinge of regret seeing all the buzz on my campus. All the families were dressed to the nines walking around Atlanta looking hilariously lost, and I felt like an outsider peering in at my own life (your graduation is supposed to be this like monumental event, right?); but my regret was quickly drowned in my buddy's swimming pool. Laying out for the afternoon was far superior to sitting through a drawn out ceremony, which at a school as large as mine, is devoid of any individual attention or actual "walking" anyway.

In lieu of graduation, my family prepared a little happy hour in my honor. I was so surprised pulling up to their house and seeing graduation balloons on the mailbox and the dining room decorated with festive themed items such as chopsticks and Mao postcards. We had appetizers and champaign with strawberries, it was both personalized and the cutest thing ever.

No graduation is complete without gifts. We're an energy efficient family and naturally we recycle, so my mom used my old head shots from when I was a kid as wrapping paper. It's sort of a family joke because we ordered those head shots in bulk and barely used a fraction of them, and of course I grew out of the picture in a few years and grew to despise it! I won't say it didn't give me some satisfaction ripping into it.

Blogging (and everything else in life) will now be abazillion times easier with the contents of this package... the most spectacular awe-inspiring graduation gift of all time: A MAC BOOK PRO!

The angels sang as I removed it from its box and whispered "Excalibur."

That evening was my choice, hibachi and sake, of which I am still reaping the benefits of the leftovers.

By the end of the evening, I couldn't believe there had been a moment that day when I had actually regretted my graduation choices. With such an amazing family and so many blessings raining down on me, I must conclude that I am the luckiest little graduate that never walked.

Zombie Lace -- Not Completely Dead!

As it happens, I had to admit to myself that as much as I love fashion following and blogging as a hobby, I can't let it get in the way of my concrete goals for life. I had to back off the blog for many reasons, from losing my digital camera, to feeling plain uninspired about writing about outfits. There's something to be said for dressing from the subconscious, without analyzing or over-thinking my choices in context of blogging. Not having a camera aided this, and I actually think the respite was liberating in a way!

I did get some random snapshots of outfits here and there. To update you, here is kind of what I dressed like over the colder months.

I suppose I sort of oscilated between glam-loving granny and Victorian school girl. Lots of colorful skin tight bottoms and oversized sweaters. I altered some sequin pants from a dance costume long ago, and I pretty much lived in these leopard gold leggings I found in the ghetto-fabulous treasure chest known as Underground Atlanta. Seriously, the best cheapest place to fulfill your blingtastic needs.

I found these 80s lace-up boots at an awesome little Antique store off Highland Avenue and I got a ton of use out of them this Winter. I think my Victorian looks were inspired from taking my very last class of my college career, the works of the Bronte sisters.

Speaking of my very last class of my college career, I guess now is a good time to reveal my post-graduation plan. In August, I am moving to China to be an English teacher!

And so brings me to the new direction of this blog. I know I'll probably lose some people (and I so hate to lose you, but I understand this is a FASHION blogging community so it only makes sense!) but this blog is going to evolve to reflect my journey. I'll be facing a unique set of challenges, and I plan to be dressed well while facing them and to continue to gush about clothes and antiques and insane bargains, but Zombie Lace will become less geared towards fashion and more towards Teaching Abroad.

My last few months in Atlanta, I will cross all my i's and dot all my t's and say my farewell to the Atlanta scene. I'll also record my experiences as a young Western graduate preparing to ship overseas and hopefully my awkward disasters and mishaps will serve as wisdom and guidance for the voyagers who come after me. Once in China, I will be unable to use Blogger.com, and will then switch to some platform acceptable over there. I hope I can bring some of you with me along for the ride.

Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me this long! I can't wait to start getting reaquainted with your blogs and stealing your outfit ideas.